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Reading Hebrews 11:7 where we learn that by faith Noah believed God and prepared the ark and was saved, just as we must also believe there is a judgment to come. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Noah was warned of a judgment to come, and he believed God and made preparations and was saved. We're likewise warned of a judgment that is to come. Believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .wutt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in the book of Hebrews chapter 11. The hall of faith is where we are, and I'm going to start by reading in verse 7, go through verse 16. We'll begin with these 10 verses out of the Legacy Standard Bible.
This is the word of the Lord. By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed, by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
By faith, even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she regarded him faithful who had promised. Therefore, there were born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that.
As many as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own, and indeed if they had been remembering that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
But now they aspire to a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he prepared a city for them. I love this section, might be my favorite section of Hebrews, especially when you consider those last few verses that I read there.
These men of faith, men and women of faith that we're reading about in Hebrews 11, they were promised things that oftentimes when we look at those promises we think of earthly promises. But here it says plainly, they were not anticipating to receive something on earth, they desired something better, and God prepared for them a heavenly place, which they have received, having finished their lives in faith.
And so likewise, we are promised the same. We're promised heavenly reward, an entrance into the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus if we persevere to the end. This faith is given to us by God, he will keep us in this faith, and he will deliver us ultimately at the conclusion of this life and entering into the next.
As Paul said in Philippians 1 .6, I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it at the day of Christ. So let's come back to our hall of faith, who were the new figures that were introduced to us in these 10 verses?
We heard about Noah, we heard about Abraham, and we heard about Sarah. So let's come into Noah in verse 7, by faith Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household.
Now let me stop there. So Noah warned about things not yet seen. Remember what we last read when I went through Abel and Enoch, which would have been on Wednesday of last week. So that section with Abel and Enoch is bookended with verses 3 and 6.
I think I said bookmarked, it's actually bookended, that was the term I was really looking for. So the bookends are verse 3 and verse 6. Verse 3 again, by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Remember that? And what did I say on Wednesday? We understand worlds to mean. A Hebrew would have understood that to mean ages. By faith we understand that the ages were prepared by the word of God. So things not yet seen, things that were going to happen in time, no one but God would have known.
He decreed those things from before the foundation of the world and he will fulfill that which he has decreed. He has not only decreed the end from the beginning, but he has decreed the means to those ends.
So God has not only decreed these things from eternity past, but he even works in the midst of all that happens by his providence, bringing about those things that he means to take place. So by faith we understand the worlds, the ages, were prepared by the word of God.
He not only brought all things into existence by his word, but he has declared the end from the beginning by his word. And these were things that were not yet seen. Not any of these events had happened yet, but God proclaimed them and so they came to pass.
Verse six, and without faith it is impossible to please him for he who draws near must believe that he is. He who draws near to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
So why do I mention those two things as bookmarks? Well, first of all, those passages are on the opposite side of Abel and Enoch, but also both passages mentioned things unseen. The ages were unseen so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
And then we have the unseen mentioned in verse six as well. The unseen being God without faith, it is impossible to please him for he who draws near to God must believe that he is. We don't see him. And the reason why we don't see him is because of sin.
Part of the curse is that we were separated from God and he's hard to see. It's not an easy thing to see God, which is why it's by faith for who believes in what he sees, but we believe in what we do not see.
Now, we certainly know God is there. And as it said in Romans one verses 18 to 20, that God's invisible attributes, namely his eternal power in divine nature, are clearly perceived in all that has been made.
So man will man is without excuse. No one is going to stand before God on judgment day and be able to say to him, well, we just didn't know you kept yourself hidden. If you had shown yourself to us, then we would have believed.
No, the attributes of God, not just his existence, but even his attributes, his eternal power and divine nature are clearly perceived in all that has been made. Man doesn't have any excuse. And the reason why God is not seen is not because he's playing a trick on us.
It's because we're sinners and he's holy. And so part of that separation means that we're not just we're not going to be able to just turn around and see God there. And if we did, it would fry us. We would not be able to look at the holy presence of God.
Three of the disciples were given a very limited appearance, Peter, James and John, and it terrified them. The transfiguration of Christ before them, when that that veil of his flesh was taken away for a moment and they saw him in his glory.
And it terrified them. Moses, God said to Moses, you cannot look at my face and live. And so Moses only saw him from behind as he passed by. But even that encounter with God, when Moses came down off the mountain, his face was glowing so that no one could look at him.
Imagine a person's face shining that brightly that you couldn't even look at him. You know, there are certain streetlights we can't stare at too long because, you know, put spots in front of our eyes.
It might even hurt your eyes. You know, you can't look at the sun for too long. You'll downright damage your eyes. So how bright was Moses face shining that people couldn't look at him? He had to wear a veil over his face.
But that's what it's like to be in the presence of the glory of God. And because we're sinful and he's holy, we just don't get that kind of access. Very few men in the Bible got the opportunity to do that.
Moses, as I mentioned, and as we read recently going through Isaiah, he had the chance to see God in his glory in Isaiah six. And when Isaiah saw him, he was terrified. He thought he was a dead man because I've seen the glory of God.
But God made him able to stand in his presence and have that conversation with him. The only way that we can come into the presence of God and be able to fellowship with him is by his own mercy and grace.
So without faith, it's impossible to please him. We must believe that he exists and he rewards those who earnestly seek him. So we've got kind of another bookend here, even though verse six bookends with verse three.
So you have four and five in the middle. Verse six could also bookend with what I read in verses 15 and 16 or probably 14 through 16. So because we talked there about how he rewards those who seek him.
Well, that's what Abraham believed. He believed in God, that he that he is, that he really exists, and he believed that God rewards those who seek him. Because what do we have coming up here? We have the story of Abraham and Sarah, who believed that God was a rewarder and they received far greater than just a child, just an heir, although that would have been enough.
But they become the parents of entire nations that would come after them. And what they inherited was a kingdom, the heavenly kingdom of God, even in that place in paradise. It's referred to by Jesus in Luke 16 as Abraham's bosom there at Abraham's side, because the children of Abraham knew that when they went to go be in the presence of God, they went to a place that was given to Abraham.
So likewise, the children of Abraham, those who truly believe God would receive the true children of Abraham, not just anybody who was born in the line of Abraham. Jesus was very clear about that as well.
So we go from that. We go from that statement there without faith. It is impossible to please him. You must believe that he exists. You must believe that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. We go from that to Noah, Noah's faith, verse seven, by faith, Noah being warned about things not yet seen.
So that goes back to verse three. The worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of those things which are visible, those things that God prepared no one could have seen from eternity past.
Only God knew those things. And so Noah was warned about things, about events that were not yet seen, not just the destruction of the world by the flood that was going to come upon the earth. But Noah had never seen rain like that before.
No one had ever seen rain like that before. No one had any idea that the world could ever flood and be destroyed in that way. So Noah was warned and Noah being talked about in Genesis as a righteous man, he is the man God chooses to preserve the human race and even all the animals from being completely wiped out in this judgment that God was bringing.
Incidentally, that word righteous does not appear in the Bible until it describes Noah. So for five chapters of the Bible, Genesis one through five, we've never seen the word righteous. It comes up for the first time to describe Noah, Genesis six, nine.
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among those in his generations. Noah walked with God. And when God gave Noah instructions to build an ark because he was going to bring judgment upon the earth, he was going to destroy the earth in a flood.
Never. Nothing like that had ever been seen before. But Noah believed God and he built this ark. It took him over 100 years. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it took him a long time to build that ark.
And he had four sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, who helped him build the ark. After building the ark, after all of the animals are gathered onto this floating vessel, which was really more like a barge than a boat.
Though most images that we see of the ark are like a boat. But anyway, in Genesis seven, one, it says, then Yahweh said to Noah, enter the ark, you and all your household for you alone. I have seen to be righteous before me in this generation.
The wickedness of man grieved the heart of God. He regretted that he had made man on the earth. And so he purges the earth. He cleanses the earth of wickedness in this flood. Save Noah, his three sons and their wives, eight people on an ark and a whole bunch of animals.
Noah was warned about these things not yet seen, and in reverence, he prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world. Now, that's been a confusing phrase to some biblical scholars, especially those well versed in Greek, trying to understand the language that's being used here.
By what did he condemn the world? Well, first of all, who is he? He is in reference to Noah, not in reference to God, because God is not mentioned in verse seven to be the nearest antecedent. You know what I mean by that?
So so if God had been mentioned and we have by which he condemned the world, then we could tie the he back to God as the nearest antecedent. But in this case, the nearest antecedent is Noah. So the the one condemning is Noah, by which he condemned the world.
Now, how did Noah condemn the world? Did he condemn the world by building the ark? By trusting God, building the ark, bringing his family on board, all of the animals, and then through this, the rest of the world is condemned.
Is that what that's in reference to? Because some commentaries I've read would would say that's what that's in reference to, by which is the ark by the ark he condemned the world. But there are others that will say that it's by faith.
And that's why this is kind of confusing. I would say that's the most likely answer. By faith, he condemned the world because that's the statement that starts verse seven by faith, Noah. And so then halfway through, by which he.
So it's the same same phrase repeated by faith, Noah being warned about things not yet seen in reverence, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household. That's the first half of the sentence. By faith, Noah condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith, that that would be, I think, the proper way to read it.
And especially when you consider in 2 Peter 2 5, we read the following. God did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.
So Noah in his righteousness was a herald of righteousness. Now, we don't know for sure if Noah proclaimed to the people in those days, hey, repent, turn back to God because he's bringing a flood upon the earth.
You need to repent or you're going to perish. We don't know if if Noah stood up and evangelized in that way or if being called a herald of righteousness simply meant that he lived in the fear of God. He lived in reverence, as said here in Hebrews 11, seven, and by his righteous deeds as one who walked with God, that in itself was a testimony to the wickedness of man.
For which they were going to be condemned for, for which they were condemned and were coming into destruction. So we could simply mean that because Noah believed by faith and he obeyed God and he walked righteously, these things became the condemnation for the rest of the world.
So by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. So there's kind of the two sides of the same coin. He condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness, which is according to faith.
All of us become an heir of righteousness by faith. We all receive eternal reward by faith in Jesus Christ. We become an heir of the righteousness. We receive righteousness from God and we also receive the reward for that righteousness.
Because once again, back to verse six, without faith, it is impossible to please him for he who draws near to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. And so likewise, that's what Noah received.
He became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. And we will receive the same if we believe in Jesus Christ and put our faith and trust in him, he who died for the, for he alone is the propitiation for our sins, the wrath of God satisfied by faith in Jesus Christ.
And we will be saved from the next judgment that is coming upon the world. Jesus said that just as it was in the days of Noah. So it will be also in the days of the son of man, they were eating and they were drinking and they were marrying and they were being given in marriage until that day that Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.
It was the same as in the days of lot, they were eating and they were drinking. They were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. But on the day that lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
It will be just the same on the day that the son of man is revealed in second Peter chapter three, he makes the same comparison. There was a judgment that came upon the earth by a flood of water. And there's another judgment that's coming by a flood of fire.
So he says this second Peter three beginning in verse five, it escapes their notice talking about the wicked. It escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which the world at that time was destroyed being deluged with water.
But by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you talking to Christians, talking to the elect because that's who's addressed at the beginning of second Peter.
He is patient toward you, not willing for any of his elect to perish, but for all of the elect to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be found out.
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens burning will be destroyed and the elements will melt with intense heat.
But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Amen to that. So if you believe by faith, live by faith, as said in Romans 1 17, the just will live by faith.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the word we've read today. The example of Noah that is given to us here. He believed in what you said in something that was coming and in reverence before you in reverent fear of God.
He obeyed God prepared for that day, and he and his family were saved while the rest of the world was condemned. So as we recognize that is the promise, even for now, there is a judgment that is coming.
Will we be like Noah and respond in faith and prepare our families for that day so that they may come to know the gospel of Jesus Christ, he who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead so that all who believe in him will not perish in this judgment that is to come, but they will have everlasting life with God.
May we herald this righteousness even before the world, living in a righteous manner in the way of our savior, warning them of the judgment that is to come so that they will flee and come to Christ and so be saved.
Let us not shrink back in these present days, but hold fast to the word of your promise, the promise of the judgment that is to come and the promise of deliverance for all who believe in Jesus. It's in his name that we pray.
Amen.